


Human Toll

by Elemental1025



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Ficlet, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-04
Updated: 2012-11-04
Packaged: 2017-11-17 23:54:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/554600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elemental1025/pseuds/Elemental1025
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack comes to see Ianto during his 'suspension' after the events of "Cyberwoman" (as was noted in the BBCA Captain' Blog for that ep) .<br/>Spoilers: Up to "Cyberwoman", but it's sort of informed by the events depicted in "Fragments", though there are no specific references to that ep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Human Toll

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to Live Journal March 23, 2008, and OMG it's hard not to edit the longer stuff. But I'm not going to edit! **sits on hands**

Jack took a deep breath before raising his hand to knock on the door to Ianto’s flat. He wasn’t sure what to expect, but for some reason that was pretty much the way things always ended up for him, so while he didn’t think he’d ever get used to it, it wasn’t going to stop him either.  
  
There was no response to his gentle knock, but he thought he could hear the soft hum of a conversation beyond the closed door. He continued to listen for a moment, straining to hear the words, but still couldn’t make out anything beyond an unintelligible murmur.  
  
After waiting long enough to be polite, he touched a few buttons on his wrist band and the door popped open. The conversation Jack had heard was easily identifiable now, but there was still no reaction to his presence from inside the flat, so Jack decided that was as good an invitation as he was going to get and cautiously moved inside.  
  
It had been two days since Jack had ordered Ianto out of the hub once they had finished hiding away the shattered remnants of three lives cut so cruelly short. At the time, Jack hadn’t cared where he went just so long as he was out of Jack’s sight, because with the torrent of emotions that had been going through his mind at the time, he really didn’t know what he wanted to do. And Jack had already spent far too much of his too long life regretting mistakes.  
  
Gray light flickered along the walls of the hallway as Jack made his way into the flat, and Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were talking about what makes a racehorse run. Once the living room was in view, Jack breathed a mental sigh of relief when he saw the back of a head covered in unruly brown curls, wrapped up in a surprisingly threadbare blanket on the sofa.  
  
The figure made no movement and didn’t acknowledge Jack’s presence at all, but his nose would have told him long before now if he was going to have four bodies to bury. The fact that Ianto was still here and at least physically intact counted as a win in Jack’s book.  
  
From where he stood, Jack could almost see the whole apartment. It was sparsely furnished, and apart from the haphazard stack of DVD cases next to the television, there didn’t seem to be many personal items. No trinkets or books or even any mail. A few pictures hung on the walls, but they looked like they came with the apartment. There were no personal photos at all, not even any of Lisa.  
  
The kitchen turned out to be just as bare. While there was the usual paraphernalia for making tea, the fridge only held a couple of leftover containers and a bit of milk that was a week out of date. Seeing the food decided Jack on his course of action.  
  
Leaving the kitchen, he approached the man on the sofa. Ianto didn’t look at him, just kept his eyes on the television screen, and Jack wasn’t entirely sure that Ianto was even aware that he was there. Jack could see now that he was mostly dressed – old jeans, t-shirt and socks – so he retrieved the worn pair of trainers from near the door and then knelt in front of Ianto to get his shoes on him.  
  
Once he was done, he looked up and found Ianto watching him. He had seen Ianto’s eyes look a dozen different ways, but he had never seen them look so dull and lifeless. He had to fight the almost overwhelming urge to gather him up in his arms and try to chase that look as far away as was humanly possible. For right now, he needed to keep this as impersonal as possible, for both of their sakes, even though it so clearly wasn’t for either of them.  
  
Owen had given him a terse rundown of the sorts of mental and physical issues they were probably dealing with, though Jack pointedly ignored his repeated urgings that a simple bullet to the head would be the most efficient course of action. Listening to Owen, he finally got a picture of just how much of an idiot he was.  
  
He knew first hand what kind of horror Canary Wharf had probably been, but because of his personal dealings with London, he had painted them all with the same brush and had written them all off as deserving their fate. And on top of that, none of them were his responsibility.  
  
But Ianto had impressed him. He’d been tenacious and resourceful and… _human_ , not at all like the automatons he’d met whenever he dealt with London and so he just didn’t connect what happened there with the Ianto that had come to work for him.  
  
Suzie, of course, should have been a wake up call for him that things aren’t always as they seem, but by then Ianto had made himself part of the furniture. A very decorative and useful part, but still… just furniture. Now Jack understood that was by design and he’d fallen for it hook, line and sinker.  
  
“Come on. You need some fresh air.” Trying to put as much authority into his tone as possible, he took hold of the other man’s arm and urged him to his feet. To Jack’s relief, he came without protest and only wobbled a little once Jack got him upright. Jack steered him towards the door and was further encouraged when Ianto grabbed his own coat on the way out.  
  
Sullen and silent, Ianto walked along beside him, but Jack decided he could deal with that just fine, and it actually was a glorious morning. He led the way to a café he knew of that was optimistic enough to have an outdoor seating area. As expected, it was full today, but Jack had made friends with the waitress who was on duty, and she seated them almost right away.  
  
“What can I get you?” Another perky waitress appeared and Jack didn’t even look at Ianto, just flirted with her a bit because if felt good to see someone smile, and ordered two breakfasts. Once she was gone, Jack chattered about a spat Gwen and Owen had had the previous evening. Ianto still wasn’t acknowledging his presence, but if it was one thing Jack could do, it was talk. And once he started, he found he didn’t want to stop.  
  
Their breakfasts arrived and Jack continued his monologue between bites. He figured that even if Ianto didn’t actually eat anything, it had still been a good idea to get him out of that flat, so he wasn’t at all bothered by the fact that the plate remained untouched in front of him. Jack had moved on to a favorite story of an associate he’d had on Geldon 4, leaving out, of course, the name of the planet and the fact that it’s inhabitants had hands like a squid’s tentacles, even though that was the funniest part of the story. He struggled to not bat an eye when Ianto eventually reached out and poured himself a cup of tea and took a piece of toast.  
  
By the end of the meal, Jack hoped it wasn’t just his own wishful thinking that Ianto seemed to be just a little bit more _there_ with him than he had been when they sat down. Once he paid the bill, they set off back towards Ianto’s flat, but came upon the SUV before they got there. Jack stopped beside it and got his keys out. Before he unlocked the door he turned to Ianto, “I’ll be back at the same time tomorrow, so be dressed and ready to go when I get here.”  
  
Without waiting for any response, he got into the car and eased it away from the curb. In the rear view mirror, he watched as Ianto went up the stairs to his building and paused to look back at the SUV. Jack was too far away now to see Ianto’s face, and he knew Ianto couldn’t see him, but somehow it still felt like they were… connected? Or something. Whatever it was it wasn’t at all unpleasant. Eventually Ianto disappeared inside. Jack let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and found he was actually looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully this wouldn’t turn out to be one of those decisions he’d end up regretting.

 


End file.
